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A 10-year-old transgender girl from Chicago will already be a runway veteran when she takes to the catwalk next month at New York Fashion Week — with plans to walk in Paris next year.
Noella McMaher, whose parents both identify as transgender and who has an infant sibling referred to as a “theybie,” made her debut at NYFW in February as one of several trans and non-binary models walking for the Trans Clothing Company. She was the youngest person to ever take part in the event.
Noella has a lively presence on social media and what seems to be a thriving home life with her parents, Dee McMaher, 35, and Ray McMaher, 32, both of whom were born biological females but now identify as non-binary.
“Noella’s first show was Chicago Fashion Week at 7 years old,” her parent, Dee, told Forbes earlier this year. “An out trans teen told her about open auditions, and she watched YouTube videos to prepare. She booked two designers at her very first audition. Since then she has been in two Chicago Fashion Weeks and a handful of smaller shows.”
Dee told The Post Wednesday that Noella didn’t like wearing boy clothes even as a toddler and often acted out. Dee said they eventually took her to a gender clinic and she came into her own once she felt freed up to be a girl.
“Our job as parents for all three of our children is to embrace their individual needs,” Dee told The Post. ” With Noella we have a child who has known who she was from very early on.”
Neither of Noella’s parents pushed her to be a girl, Dee said.
“My spouse and I probably own two pairs of shoes between us,” she said. “We’re not into fashion at all. Noella is the opposite. She loves glitter and makeup and clothes. We wouldn’t even know how to encourage that kind of femininity.”
To anyone who asks how a child knows they are transgender at just 10, Dee said she has an answer ready.
“At 2 years old, she started telling us she wasn’t a boy. At 4.5, she socially transitioned and at 7 she legally transitioned.”
“My spouse and I are also transgender,” Dee added. “Noella transitioned way before we did. She is the most self-assured person I know. I tell her all the time I want to be like her when I grow up.”
In 2019, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whose billionaire family is one of the biggest donors to transgender causes in the world, signed an executive order aimed at promoting LGBTQ students’ rights in schools. Noella was among those posing at his side, wearing a pink tutu and giant bow in her hair and T-shirt reading, “This is what trans looks like.”
Noella and her younger brother Levi (who his parents say is a boy and wants to remain a boy) were born to Dee and Dee’s then-husband, Timothy McCord, a scientist in the Chicago area.
McCord told The Post he has no issue with Noella coming out as trans but said he is somewhat concerned about her life being too public as a model. As for Noella having any possible future medical intervention, like being given puberty blockers and hormones, McCord said he is not quite sure what to make of that.
“I have no say in it,” he said. “She’s not my kid anymore.”
Dee and McCord split up years ago and eventually divorced in 2019 but McCord saw the children on a regular basis at first, he said.
He said an incident in 2016, when he grabbed Noella’s arm after she had a tantrum, shattered the family forever and he has not seen his children since. “The next day Dee called and said, you need a break from the kids because Noella has a sprain,” he said. “Then she called back and said Noella’s arm is broken. I think you need a lawyer.”
McCord said a legal nightmare ensued and he ended up getting arrested and spending several nights in the Cook County Jail in Chicago. He said he then made the decision to plead guilty to misdemeanor child endangerment because he felt that continuing to fight within the legal system would be hopeless.
He tried to resume visitation with the kids but said it was impossible.
“I tried to get back in their lives but it ended up too contentious and stressful for everyone,” he said. Even though he said he does not believe is guilty of what he was accused of, he decided to let Dee and her partner formally adopt the kids and he relinquished all rights to them.
“I was given the opportunity to step back and let Dee’s partner adopt the kids and I did that in the hopes they would not have all the stress this was causing in their lives,” he said.
McCord said he will be open if the kids try to contact him when they’re older.
“If they have questions, I’m here,” he said. “I’m not hard to find.”
Noella’s parents and their reps did not return numerous emails and calls from The Post.
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